Cotton prices trended downward last week, primarily driven by a combination of factors including strong expectations for a bumper new crop, lackluster demand, and weak international cotton prices. According to the Business Society Commodity Market Analysis System,

as of September 8, the spot price for 3128B grade lint cotton stood at 15,417 RMB per ton, marking a weekly decline of 0.4%.

Domestic Market:

Fundamentally, short-term supply tightened, supporting lint prices. As of September 5, 2025, commercial cotton inventories totaled 1.4156 million tons, down 131,400 tons (8.49%) week-on-week. This level remains significantly below last year's comparable period and is considered low for this time of year. However, new cotton will enter the market in late September to replenish supplies. Simultaneously, sporadic new cotton purchases in southern Xinjiang command higher prices, and the market anticipates some initial rush buying during the early stages of large-scale new crop arrivals, providing bottom support for cotton prices. The new cotton harvest is expected to begin 10-15 days earlier than in previous years.

The textile market's peak season has started slowly. As of September 4, the operating rate of spinning mills in major regions stood at 66%, up 0.15% week-on-week, showing little change. The recovery pace of inland mills remains sluggish, with low operating rates likely to persist. Downstream orders have increased slightly but are mostly short-term and small-volume. Yarn prices remain generally stable with minor local increases, leaving inland enterprises with narrow profit margins or operating at a loss.

International:

Amid macroeconomic uncertainties, international cotton prices fluctuated weakly. The ICE cotton futures main contract settled at an average weekly price of 66.12 cents/lb, down 0.79 cents/lb (1.2%) from the previous week. Weekly U.S. cotton sales continued to improve, with net export contracts for U.S. 2025/26 upland cotton reaching 55,600 metric tons last week, up 4,100 metric tons from the previous week. However, cumulative annual sales remain sluggish, keeping cotton prices oscillating at relatively low levels.

Market Outlook:

Amid tight old-crop supplies and expectations of a rush to harvest new cotton, the market maintains price expectations. However, downstream demand shows no significant improvement, with weak demand struggling to absorb the upcoming supply increase. Current operating rates have only slightly improved, and new orders remain limited. Cotton prices are expected to remain volatile in the short term, with attention focused on future demand developments and the acquisition prices for newly harvested cotton.

As an integrated internet platform providing benchmark prices, on September 9, the benchmark price of lint cotton on SunSirs was 15,417.17 RMB/ton, up 0.58% from the beginning of this month (15,327.67 RMB/ton).

Application of SunSirs Benchmark Pricing：

Traders can price spot and contract transactions based on the pricing principle of agreed markup and pricing formula (Transaction price=SunSirs price + Markup).

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